Hockey began as a sport at Arizona State in the fall of 1973 with ASU students gathering at Tower Ice Plaza in Central Phoenix to play pick up hockey amongst each other. As collegiate club hockey evolved throughout the country, so did hockey at Arizona State. By the late 80's ASU was fielding a full-fledged ice hockey team competing in Division II of the American Collegiate Hockey Association. In 1993, General Manager Mike Hoffarth led the program to achieving ACHA Division I status propelling the Sun Devil hockey program into the national spotlight by qualifying for the ACHA Division I National Tournament just two years later in the 1995–96 season. Then Head Coach, Gene Hammett would lead the program to three straight National Tournament appearances from 1995–1998. ASU has qualified for 10 ACHA Division I National Tournaments since competing at the Division I level in the American Collegiate Hockey Association, and developed 12 ACHA Division I All-Americans. In the 2013–2014 season the team won its first ACHA National Championship, defeating Robert Morris University-Illinois. In the 2015-2016 NCAA hockey season ASU played their first split schedule between ACHA Division 1 and NCAA Division 1 teams, marking their first transition year to become a full-time NCAA Division 1 hockey team.

Arena

The Sun Devils have continued play most of their home games at the Oceanside Ice Arena, though they play a few games each season at Glendale's Gila River Arena, home of the NHL's Arizona Coyotes.[5] Following the Sun Devils' move to the NCAA, Oceanside underwent extensive renovations that expanded the capacity to 840 and gave the facility a facelift in ASU colors.[6]

The future home facility had been uncertain as ASU Athletic Director Ray Anderson continued to weigh options, including further renovations to Oceanside Ice Arena or some other off-campus location.[7] Eventually, ASU joined the ownership of the Coyotes in that team's plans for a new arena. In November 2016, the Coyotes announced plans to build a new arena in Tempe, with the project also including a secondary 4,000-seat arena that would be home to the Sun Devils.[8] The new arena was seen[according to whom?] as aiding the Sun Devils' bid to join an established hockey conference; the lack of a dedicated arena was reportedly one issue that led the NCHC to turn down a membership bid from ASU earlier in the year.[9] The Coyotes' plans for the new arena have stalled, thanks to lack of funding.

Coaches

Head coach

Greg Powers has been the head coach of the ASU Sun Devils program since the 2010-11 season. In the 2015-16 season, the Sun Devils switched out of the ACHA and joined the NCAA-sponsored Division I program and during first three seasons, Powers has put together a record of 23–62–10. Prior to that, Powers had a 164-27-9 record during his five seasons as the head man behind the Devils' bench in the ACHA including a dominating 39-1-0 record against rival Arizona.[12] Prior to taking over as the head coach, Powers spent two seasons as an assistant coach for ASU. Powers is also a former member of the team, having played four seasons as a goaltender for the Devils from 1995-96 to 1998-99, earning All-American nods as a sophomore, junior, and senior. He was inducted into the club's Hall of Fame in 2009.